Youngster wins place at Royal Ballet School

Kent and Sussex Courier
April 12, 2012

A primary school pupil has become one of just a handful of boys in the world to be offered a place at a top London ballet school. Ten-year-old James Large is getting set to attend the Royal Ballet School in London in September.

To get there, the youngster had to get through two audition stages at Covent Garden and White Lodge overcoming competition from hundreds of other hopefuls. Just 12 boys and 12 girls were selected from national and international applications for those entering Year 7.

Once there, he will have a full-on schedule, with four hours of dance each day, plus four hours of academic lessons and homework to cope with.

He and his identical twin brother Sam, who did not apply for the Royal Ballet School, have been on the dancing scene for some years and have become regular faces at competitions locally and nationally.

During this year’s February half-term holiday the pair walked away with the Kent Youth Ballet Cup at the Tunbridge Wells Dance Festival at the Assembly Hall.

Copyright © 2012 Northcliffe Media Limited.

A teenager’s hard work has earned him a place at RBS

By Gabriella Coslovich
The Age
Photograph by Nikita Vaz
March 19, 2012
[Edited]

When Calvin Richardson was 12 years old, he auditioned for Billy Elliot the musical. But like many another aspiring young Billy, his hopes were dashed. “That sort of hit hard. They said I was going to grow too much,” he says. The judges were right — except they couldn’t have imagined just how high Richardson would rise, and how quickly.

The 17-year-old from Traralgon, who is now nudging 182 centimetres (six feet), has just won [and accepted] a scholarship to study at London’s Royal Ballet School, where the likes of Dame Margot Fonteyn, Darcey Bussell and Sir Kenneth MacMillan trained. What’s even more remarkable is that Richardson has only been training intensively in ballet for less than three years, and wasn’t even that keen on it when he started studying at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School [at age] 14.

“When he came to us, tap was his thing . . . he had no idea about being a ballet dancer, he was quite negative about it,” recalls Maggie Lorraine, the college’s leading ballet teacher.

At the college, Richardson’s teachers quickly saw that they had someone special in their midst. Says college head of dance Tim Storey: “It’s not just about talent. To succeed you need a mix of talent, the right body, grunt and commitment. Fortunately he has got it all, so in three years he has been able to build himself into a dance machine. He is colossal.”

At Miss Lorraine’s encouragement, Richardson set off to the mecca of dance competitions last month — the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland. While he didn’t win a prize, he won the attention of ballet company directors from across Europe and America who attend the Prix scouting for new talent, among them the Royal Ballet School’s Ballarat-born Gailene Stock.

All those mornings of getting up at 4.45am to catch the 5.30am V/Line train from Traralgon to the college in the city had paid off.

Richardson started dancing when he was five after watching his two older sisters do their thing at Vicki’s Dancing Academy in Morwell: “I saw them doing the splits and said, ‘I want to do that!’ “

But at high school in Warragul, he kept quiet about his dancing, particularly among his male peers. “I was more friends with girls at my old school, and that was probably because of people’s view of me as a dancer,” he says, his body language suggesting it’s not the most comfortable thing to talk about. “You know, you get all the names and that sort of stuff,” he says.

[It was Calvin's father], John, a former football player, who more or less pushed his reticent son to audition for the college, knowing he would be more comfortable there.

He is thrilled by Calvin’s soaring success. “It’s a bit like a true Billy Elliot story . . . the only different thing is I’ve been behind him since he was five,” John says.

In response, Calvin rolls his eyes in that dismissive way teens reserve for their parents. “He’s such a ballet dad,” he says.

Copyright © 2012 Fairfax Media

Related Article: Young Australian dancer to compete in Prix

Harry’s rising star

Youngster wins prize just months after starting to dance

The Herald Express
March 15, 2012

A budding ballet star from Devon has won first prize in a competition — just 10 months after first strapping on his dancing shoes.

Harry Symington competed in the prestigious Exeter Dance Festival 2012. The 11 year old from Moretonhampstead impressed judges with a solo, gaining a high mark of 87 in his first dance festival.

Harry currently dances with Rosemary Woodwark School of Dance.
Mum Denise said: “When he won the prize, Harry said, ‘I can’t believe it, I’ve won’. He was overwhelmed.

“His dream is to go to a ballet school full-time. He does an hour of body conditioning a day and four ballet lessons a week.”

Copyright © 2012 Northcliffe Media Limited.

Schoolboy has earned a place at the Royal Ballet School

The Western Morning News
March 23, 2012

A Westcountry schoolboy who has nurtured a passion for dancing since he was three years old has been awarded a place at the Royal Ballet School.

Harry Symington, of Moretonhampstead on Dartmoor, has been dancing at home, in school, in supermarket aisles and anywhere he possibly can since he was a toddler. The 11-year-old joined the Rosemary Woodwark School of Dance in Kingsteignton 10 months ago and has been following a gruelling routine of lessons, daily body conditioning and even vocal training.

He auditioned for a full-time place with both The Royal Ballet School in London and the Birmingham-based Elmhurst School for Dance, which both offer just a handful of scholarships. After three tense weeks of waiting, Harry has received the news that he has been offered a place at both schools.

His mother, Denise, said: “It’s been his dream, without a shadow of a doubt. He has set his sights on the Royal Ballet School for a very long time so he chose them. We are ecstatic.

“I’m sure it will be heart wrenching when he leaves in September, but the whole family couldn’t be more proud.”

Copyright © 2012 Northcliffe Media Limited

Cornwall’s “Billy Elliot” makes a leap to Royal Ballet School

The Western Morning News
March 22, 2012
[Edited]

A Cornish schoolboy is one of just 12 in the country to win a place at the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London. Dreams of a professional dancing career are now one step closer for 11-year-old Stuart Strongman, who has been studying ballet for five years.

Stuart, from St Austell, auditioned early this year – little expecting that he would be offered a place at White Lodge, the Royal Ballet boarding school based in Richmond Park. “I have always liked dancing. But when I found out I had been offered a place I was amazed. I did not really think I would get through,” he said.

News of the place is the result of years of hard work for Stuart, who is also a keen gymnast. He spends every Saturday morning training with the Royal Ballet South West junior associates in Totnes. After the three-hour class, he jumps in the car with his mum Jennie, who drives him back to St Austell to rehearse with Cornwall’s own classical dance company– Duchy Ballet.

For Jennie the reality has yet to sink in. “Obviously we are very proud – but I still cannot believe it,” she said. “I cannot imagine opening his bedroom door in September and not seeing him there.”

Stuart admits the last few months have been particularly busy as members of Duchy Ballet have been rehearsing for the famous classical ballet Giselle and Jubilation – a dance performance set in the 1950s which has been especially choreographed to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Stuart, who has performed with Duchy Ballet for four years, has parts in both productions. Indeed, months of hard work and preparation have gone into the two-part show, which is due to be performed at the Hall for Cornwall from March 22 to 24.

Last night Kay Jones, artistic director of Duchy Ballet, said she was thrilled at Stuart’s success. She has seen him develop his talent over the years both in Duchy and as a pupil at her own ballet academy, Capitol School of Dance. “I am absolutely delighted for Stuart,” she said. “It is a very exciting time for him. It is lovely to see home-grown talent doing so well.”

Dance companies like Duchy Ballet give young dancers in Cornwall the experience of performing in a professional setting, she added. Around 90 children, from St Just to Callington, are members of the company, which holds auditions every year.

Copyright © 2012 Northcliffe Media Limited.

Talented schoolboy gets place at Royal Ballet School

By Daniel Binns
The Guardian
March 12, 2012

A talented schoolboy from Walthamstow has proven himself as one of the best young dancers in the country after securing a place at the world-famous Royal Ballet School. Louis Wilson, aged 10, is one of just 12 boys picked out of around 1,000 hopefuls to be given a coveted spot at the prestigious college’s new intake in September.

The Oakhill Primary pupil enthusiastically took up dancing at the age of six and has been wowing teachers at the Andrea Salducas School of Dance in Highams Park ever since. Such was his appetite that his parents signed him up for additional lessons at the Royal Ballet School and applied for a full-time place on a whim.

Proud mum Naomi Wilson, 40, of Belle Vue Road, said: “I just ticket the box on the form and before I knew it he had cleared three auditions. They kept whittling down the numbers until he was through to the final audition.

“It was such a huge achievement just to get to that stage, especially his background coming from Walthamstow and dancing in a church hall. So it was unbelievable when we found out he had been offered a place. It completely blew us away.”

Louis’s talent has already seen him get a bit-part in the Royal Ballet’s latest production of Alice in Wonderland at the Royal Opera House later this month.

But it was rather less glamorous dancers who helped first inspire him to take up the art. He told the Guardian: “I saw the movie Happy Feet about tap-dancing penguins and it made me really want to do it. It was really good fun and my teacher said I should try ballet as well, so I did.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet about the Royal Ballet School but I’m very pleased.”

The family are hoping to receive funding to help pay for the boarding school, which involves four hours of academic work and four hours of ballet training every day, from the Government’s music and dance scheme.

© Copyright 2012 Newsquest Media Group

Reece Clarke, 16, named best young dancer in Britain

By James Moncur
The Daily Record
March 12, 2012

Reece Clarke, from Airdrie, won the prestigious prize after battling off competition from all over the UK.

And the first people to congratulate the 16-year-old were his three big brothers, who are also ballet dancers.

Reece, who is a pupil at the Royal Ballet School in London, said: “One of my brothers watched me in the competition and the other two, who are in America, have already sent ‘well done’ messages. “They’re really happy for me.”

Reece was crowned Young British Dancer of the Year after competing against 82 other dancers in front of judges Gary Avis, Zenaida Yanowsky and top ballerina Deanne Bergsma.

His flawless performance of one of the toughest male solos in The Sleeping Beauty convinced the panel that he deserved the £3000 prize.

Reece, who now lives in Twickenham, London, said: “The competition was really tough. There were some really fantastic dancers there. “We had to dance through three rounds and it was an incredibly hard and physical test. I have to thank my teachers because they helped me put together my pieces.”

The Clarke brothers made history in 2006 when Reece began his first term at the Royal Ballet School. With more than 1000 dancers going for only 25 spots each year, it was the first time four brothers from the same family have all attended the school.

Russell, 22, and Ross, 20, are now based in Phoenix, Arizona, with the Ballet Arizona company. Ryan is still at the Royal Ballet School with Reece.

Their parents Robert and Anne moved to Twickenham to be with the boys.

All four brothers were pupils at Rochsolloch Primary School and the Janis Ridley School of Dance in Coatbridge.

© 2012 Scottish Daily Record

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